Breaking Bland

Smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em: Tens of thousands of people are expected for Seattle’s Hempfest, the political rally and marijuana county fair now in its 22nd year but its first year following the legalization of pot in the state. Having once enjoyed the festival’s illicit nature, pot smokers now draw a shrug from police, who will be passing out bags of Doritos to the crowd.

To bring back a little of the old allure, Hempfest participants will try to attract the attention of Seattle Police by jaywalking, riding bikes without helmets and not putting recyclables in the proper bin.

Walter White for Mayor: Albuquerque, N.M., backdrop for the series “Breaking Bad,” about a high school chemistry teacher turned meth kingpin, is going to miss the money and prestige that the AMC series has brought it the past five years. Tourists have come to check out familiar scenery or enjoy a doughnut topped with sugar “meth” crystals.

The current debate among city officials is how to go forward once the production trucks and tourists have left town: Go “cold turkey” or come down gradually by moving Hempfest to Albuquerque.

Meanwhile, in Roswell: For the first time, the CIA has acknowledged the existence of Area 51, with the release of documents about the U-2 spy plane program and the Air Force base there. But the only mention of UFOs come as the CIA notes the increase of such reports during testing of the U-2 and other spy aircraft.

So, the only objects flying out of Area 51 were ours. But as usual, the CIA redacted the parts about the pilot exchange program with Betelgeuse 5.